Saturday, 21 February 2015

Re: request for some pizzas

On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 02:18:20PM +0100, David Planella wrote:
> I'm a bit puzzled by this e-mail: you know very well where to request
> funds for community events, as you've filed several such requests using
> this form [1] over the last few months. In fact IIRC all of them have been
> approved and reported [2] as any other approved requests.

> We review these requests every week in the community team weekly call.
> They often take longer than a week to process due to administrative
> overhead and back and forth communication with requesters. Coincidentally,
> we just discussed recommending requests to be filed a month in advance of
> the actual event to set the expectations, especially after the fact that
> the number of requests has steeply been increasing over the last couple of
> months.
> On the last request you filed, which was also approved, you were simply
> asked not to file requests retroactively (that is, to send them in advance
> rather than after the fact) and to provide detailed receipts, both of
> which I think are sensible requirements.

Ug, using that form is slow to get a response, I didn't even know we'd
go to this sprint a month ago, I didn't know we'd need food to be
productive until this week and I didn't know how much they'd cost
until I bought them. It takes away any possibility of spontaneity. A
month makes it completely useless. There's also no way to submit
receipts with the form especially if it's a month before buying
anything.

> I think it's fair to involve the CC and have a discussion if you really
> think your requests haven't been handled fairly or if you believe there is
> any flaw in the process. Either that, reaching to anyone in the community
> team or sending an e-mail to the community team mailing list [3] would
> probably be the best way forward. Everyone involved are easily reachable
> and always open for discussion.

I don't think they've been handled unfairly although I do think the
fund has been. We couldn't access it for ages and it's been
retrospecively changed from donations for community flavours to
general community use, both very dodgy accounting practices.
Decisions on it get taken in secret by a team with nothing to do with
the teams that use it, why not just give the money to the teams or get
the community council to decide on uses in the open?

In this case I've asked on IRC and I've asked here and I've asked on
that form and I'm still waiting for any idea if I can buy a pizza.
It's a completely impractical process. The sprint is nearly over and
I've gone ahead an bought them because we were getting hungry.